Empathy
by The Water Drinker
Summary: Hiei is patrolling the border between the worlds when a little human girl stumbles through. When trying to erase her memories he can't help but feel a little empathetic towards her story. Rated T for hints at abuse. Nothing terribly dark!


_Just a little one-shot story of an idea I had. I hope you like it. _

* * *

Hiei balanced himself on a branch of one of the many aging, rotted trees that shrouded the demon world in their decaying, spindly arms. He rested his hand upon its trunk and moved down into a squatting position. Below him was one of the open gates to the human world. Another day on patrol as his red eyes scanned the vicinity for any signs of mundane energy.

It was rather boring, but Hiei found himself unable to complain. He could stop whenever he liked, but he felt content. A sense of complacency that had eluded him in his earlier years of existence.

He remained alert; unmoving on his perch so high above the ground. He sensed the presence of demons sneaking around the border. Pathetic, low class demons trying to have a chance at a human without any of the higher ups being aware of it. He would deal with them if he had to, but wasting even the smallest amount of energy on the likes of them would be just that, a waste.

The scent of a human began to linger in the air and ride the current up to where he was waiting. Feeble energy flickered back and forth like a tiny flame before his Jagan eye. It seems it was time to go. Hiei jumped down off the tree and landed with grace onto the ground.

Following the trail led him to just near the gate's edge. The demons that he had sensed before were circling the little flame like vultures eyeing a dying animal. Hiei found himself annoyed. Couldn't these bottom dwelling scums get another hobby? He walked up upon them as they had yet to notice his arrival. As he got closer he heard the voice of the human that had stumbled into the demon world.

"Hi guys! I'm Mae. What are _your_ names?" It sounded high pitched and youthful with oblivious disregard of the potential danger. It sounded like a little human girl.

Hiei heard the laughter of the fools that would blatantly attack something so much weaker than they were. He contemplated killing them for simply pissing him off. "_Our_ names? It won't matter what our names are when you're in our stomachs."

The little girl didn't seem frightened. In fact, she laughed with them. "You guys are funny! Do you wanna play with me?"

The demons grinned wickedly in response. "Yeah, let's play."

Before they could advance any farther, however, Hiei spoke. "If any of you vermin have a semblance of a brain you'll stop what you're doing and focus what little energy you have on running." The demons stopped cold in their tracks. On shaky legs they turned to see the demon of fire staring them down with an apathetic countenance.

The little girl broke the quiet with a, "Hi! I'm Mae! What's your name, mister?"

Hiei regarded the three demons with a malicious smirk. "My name, is Hiei."

The three bowed before him and were quick to shout out excuses. "We weren't gonna touch her, I swear!"

"We just wanted to see how humans were like! Nothing was gonna happen!"

Hiei took a step forward which in turn had the demons scurrying backwards. "It seems you don't have a brain after all. Let me give you all an ultimatum then; run, or die." That had them panicking as they stood up and scrambled off into the twisted woods of the forest. Now that one problem was dealt with, one more remained. Standing before him was a little girl no older than eight looking up at him with big, brown eyes to stare into his red ones. She had short, light brown hair with part of it tied up on the left side of her head in a little pony tail. She was wearing a tattered, faded white dress that had stains marring almost every inch of it. She bounced up to him and extended her hand that was covered in dirt.

"Nice to meet you mister Hiei!" She exclaimed.

Hiei merely stared at her. After a moment he walked passed her and said, "Come with me" over his shoulder.

She followed along after him obediently not at all deterred by his cold demeanor. She skipped and started to hum a childish, little tune. Through it she asked him, "Where are we going?" Hiei had to slow down considerably so the little human girl could keep up with him.

"I'm going to take you back to where you belong." He told her. She seemed to withdraw from that. Hiei felt the exuberant energy waver a tad as a bit of sadness crept into her being.

"Oh…" Was all she said. He felt a bit curious as to the sudden change, but chose not to comment on it. It hardly mattered. They walked on in silence for a time. The journey to the complex where he could rid her of the memories of seeing the demon world was taking far longer than it should have. He contemplated picking her up and running, but decided against it. No telling what kind of toll running at his speeds would take on her little human body.

"Are we there yet?" She asked suddenly.

Hiei took a glance over his shoulder at her before turning back to face ahead. "No."

The walk had begun to become very grating on Hiei's already singed nerves. Every few minutes since the start of that dreadful question, the girl kept pestering him.

"Are we there, _nooow_?"

"_**No**_."

"How about now?"

"_**No**_."

"What about now?"

"How about we play a little game?" Hiei asked in a condescending tone. The girl began to jump up and down on her heels in excitement at the question.

"I love games! What are we gonna play, mister Hiei?"

"We're going to play the "who can be silent the longest" game." Her eyes lit up in recognition.

"Oh, I know that game! I play it all the time with my dad, except he calls it the "who can shut the fuck up the longest" game. Kay, I'll start." Her face then screwed up into a look of concentration on her task. Hiei was taken aback by the language coming out of the mouth of something so innocent. He looked over his shoulder at the girl in surprise. After he recovered from the slight shock his face turned apathetic as he looked back forward and continued on to their destination.

They made it there in silence. Hiei walked into the building with the little girl in tow. She kept up with the "game" all the while until he said, "We're here now. You can speak." She let out a gasp as if she had been holding her breath.

"Does that mean I win?" She asked of the demon standing next to her.

Hiei just let out a "hn" as he walked down one of the many corridors of the building. The little girl followed after him a little more closely now.

"I don't like the dark." She said as she grabbed the fabric of his cloak. Hiei felt a small amount of pity for the young girl especially considering he had made her stay quiet for the remainder of the trip.

He decided to ask, "And why is that?"

The girl looked up at his face with big, scared eyes. "Because that's when _she_ comes home."

Hiei's brow furrowed in confusion. "Who is she?" He asked.

"My stepmom." Hiei found himself a bit perturbed by that, but kept walking to the chamber that held within the device that would allow him to erase her memories. This little girl was beginning to become somewhat of a handful. "By the way, mister Hiei, are you a monster?" She then asked innocently. Hiei raised an eyebrow in slight amusement.

"What makes you think I'm a monster?"

She then pointed up towards his forehead as she said, "Because you have three eyes!" Hiei hadn't even noticed really. Being in the demon world all this time had made him used to keeping it open. "It would be cool if you were a monster, I knew a monster once." Hiei didn't say anything as he listened to the little girl's ramblings. "He lived in my closet! He was really nice too. I would talk to him a lot when I was playing the silent game with my dad." She then turned to Hiei with pleading eyes. "Don't tell him I broke the rules though, he would get mad at me."

Hiei stared at her for a moment before saying, "I won't."

"Thank you mister Hiei!" She then went back into that happy mood she was in before and started to hum again. Hiei found it odd that the little girl, as young as she was, wasn't at all scared of him. Most humans would have been terrified of the idea that "monsters" existed, but this little human was more afraid of the dark. He pondered on why she was even wandering around the border of the demon and human worlds alone anyway. It was rare to see young children cross over it. "What is this place, mister Hiei?" She asked pulling him out of his thoughts. They had made it to the room with the device hanging ominously overhead. The single examining table spotlighted in the center of the room.

"This is where I am going to erase your memories of this place so I can send you back to your human world."

"Does that mean I have to go home?" She asked solemnly.

Hiei gave her an impassive stare as he said, "Yes." She placed her arms behind her back and put her head down looking forlornly at the ground. Hiei had walked to her and picked her up underneath the arms and held her out until he made it to the table and seated her on it. She didn't seem at all scared of the device pointing at her. Just sad at the prospect of having to go. "Lay down." He ordered. She did as she was told and stared up at the ceiling. "This will only take a moment."

He walked over to the controls of the contraption and was about to press a few buttons when he heard her say, "Mister Hiei, are you a part of the men in black?" Hiei stopped what he was doing and looked over at her in confusion. She noticed his puzzled expression and explained, "You know, where you are a part of this secret organization that saves normal people from bad aliens, but not all aliens are evil."

Hiei snorted in amusement. "Sure." He then had a thought. Was she stalling for time? He shook the feeling off before pressing a few buttons. The machine whirred to life making a soft humming sound. He was about to fully activate it when a quiet, feeble voice sounded over at the table.

"Please don't make me go." This got his attention as he looked over at the little girl who had desperation showing on her face. Why was she so opposed to going back home? It made him wonder. "You're a lot nicer than my dad." She spoke with a bit more volume as she sat up on the table.

"How am I nicer than he is?" He asked becoming more curious now than he was earlier.

"Because you didn't hit me when you saw me."

Hiei's eyes widened in genuine surprise. He left the machine to walk over to the little girl not hiding his confusion.

"Why would your father hit you?" He asked feeling that annoyance from earlier coming back to him at the idea that someone would attack something weaker than them. Cowards, the lot of them. Spineless, pathetic, cretins that didn't even deserve something as easy as death.

"He says it's my fault that mom died." The little girl said as she lowered her head to stare down at her dirty hands. Hiei's face contorted into a baffled look.

"Why?" He asked of her. She looked up into his eyes.

"Mom died when I was born. I never got to meet her. Dad said it was my fault. That I'm a curse." He stared at her dirty face. What was this feeling that he now felt? A mix between remorse, pity, and… empathy? "Sometimes I just wish he would disappear." She said. Her eyes became somewhat shrouded and distant. Hiei wasn't much of an expert on humans and how they lived, but something told him that this behavior wasn't normal of an eight year old girl. "My stepmom doesn't like me. She says I should be glad that they don't put me in foster care." Hiei's face had taken on the impassive look he had on before.

"You must not like people for the way they've treated you." He could relate to that feeling. He did not much care for the solitary ice apparitions and the way they had cast him out. The little girl's face brightened up immediately as she turned to him with a wide grin showing a set of teeth with a couple missing.

"I like you, mister Hiei! You played a game with me, and you even let me win! I never win that game at home." Hiei was taken aback by that. For the umpteenth time that day, he had felt emotions. It wasn't something he was used to. He then shook his head clear of the feelings.

Turning to her he said, "You need to go home. This place isn't meant for normal humans. You'll get killed if you stay here." Her face dropped after hearing this, but she didn't say anything else. When he told her to lie back down she did so without further interruption. Hiei turned his back to her and walked back over to the controls. Raising his hand, he moved it over one of the many buttons on the machine, but he found himself hesitating. He looked back over to the girl and noticed she looked as if she were about to cry. He then turned back to the controls looking resolute, and pressed a few buttons.

* * *

Hiei was hovering over another human who accidentally managed to get into the demon world. An adult male with thinning hair. He had strapped the man down to the table because he wouldn't stop trying to assault him. It was quite bothersome. He was almost to the point of knocking the insufferable fool out.

"Get away from me you… you monster!" Hiei fastened the last strap a little tighter than necessary.

"He's a scaredy cat." A high pitched voice called out mockingly. Hiei had to agree.

"Indeed."

A little girl bounced up onto the table and poked the man on the forehead. She laughed when the man desperately tried to move his head away from her touch.

"You are getting very sleepy!" She said in an exaggerated way as she moved her fingers in a random motion in front of his eyes.

"Get away from me you demon spawn!"

"Mae, get off of the table." Hiei called out as he walked over to the controls.

"'Kay." She said as she hopped off of the table and bounced over to the fire demon. After a button press the machine stirred to life. Before he could do anything further, Mae was jumping up and down beside him pulling at his cloak.

"Can I press the button this time? Can I please? Please, please, please?" Hiei looked down at the girl in exasperation as his eyes followed her movement.

"The last time I let you do it you gave the person _amnesia_." He said as he placed his hand on her head to cease her jumping. It was beginning to give him a headache.

"I won't do it this time, I promise!" She said turning pleading eyes upon him. Hiei's brow twitched involuntarily. He gave in soon after.

"Fine, just don't press these." He said gesturing to some of the buttons she had pressed before. Mae let out a happy squeak as she wrapped her arms around the man in a hug.

"Thanks dad!" She said as she stood over the controls taking on a concentrated look. Hiei just sighed. Kids. She could be so obnoxious when she wanted to. He just wondered why he had trouble telling her no half the time. He watched as she tentatively pressed the buttons in the order that he had shown her before. The machine began to become louder as it slowly lowered to the man struggling against the bindings.

A flash of light after, and the human's world slowly faded to black.

* * *

_Kinda short, but yeah. My other story is still in the works, I just have to think of a good way to move it forward. Not that I have a writer's block, I just don't want to add anything too frivolous in it, but at the same time I don't want to rush it through. _

_I got this idea because I've always thought Hiei having some kind of relationship with a human would have been cute. Father/daughter or lovers etc. I always felt that Hiei's dislike for humans was a bit random. He really hadn't had any dealings with humans until he had sought out Kurama in the human world. Then it was like, yeaaaaah, I don't like humans btw. I get that Hiei doesn't care much for anything weak, but there are plenty of strong psychics. It's pretty much the same for demons. There are a lot of weak ones and then strong ones. _

_But anyway! Thanks for reading, leave a review if you would be so kind. :)_


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